Chapter 109: Reversing the Grain Flow

Ever since Xie Han confirmed his intention to strike out on his own, he knew he would require vast quantities of grain. During his time back in the modern world, he frequently leveraged connections through friends and relatives to purposefully get close to officials at the Grain Bureau. After half a month of networking and numerous hosted dinners, he finally managed to establish a line of communication with the Director of the Zhaoyang City Grain Bureau.

For the Grain Bureau, before policy changes, it had been a department with plenty of "oil and water"—lucrative perks. However, following the implementation of tax exemptions on farmland, the bureau had become quiet. Its responsibilities were reduced to mere storage and transshipment of grain, leaving little room for personal gain; it had essentially become a "clean" office.

Xie Han’s appearance was undoubtedly a win-win for the Director, if not a godsend. Despite being a bureau chief, he faced many headaches, such as the annual requirement to clear out stockpiles of aging grain. Old grain was unpopular; it was coarse and had a powdery texture when cooked. For various reasons, processing these rotations of grain became the most vexing issue for the department.

Attempting to sell it at a low price would conflict with the pricing guidelines set by superiors, yet finding buyers at the official price was nearly impossible. As for covering the price difference out of his own pocket to facilitate a sale—that was completely out of the question. What official doesn't want to make money? Not skimming from the meager departmental funds was already considered a virtue; nobody expected them to pay out of their own pockets.

Therefore, the moment Xie Han proposed purchasing grain from the bureau, the Director didn't hesitate, offering the lowest possible price immediately. He didn't even bother to consider whether Xie Han would negotiate; after all, this problem had plagued him for far too long.

With the Director’s approval, the process was fast-tracked with a green light. Every administrative procedure was completed instantly—a level of efficiency rarely seen in a government department.

Xie Han’s four-cubic-meter storage space could hold at most ten tons of grain. However, having already rented a warehouse outside the city, he purchased one hundred tons from the bureau in a single transaction to store there. His plan was to spend ten days gradually transporting this hundred tons into the post-apocalyptic world, repeating the cycle to ensure that everyone in the New City would have food until they could achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural production.

After a week of labor, three sides of the base’s moat had been excavated, and he was confident the final side would be finished within three days at most. Every individual’s labor points had been recorded, which was precisely why Xie Han was in such a rush to transport grain from the modern world.

Although Xie Han was the supreme administrative commander of the New City, he was also its most leisurely resident. With subordinates handling every detail and comprehensive plans already in place, there was nothing for him to worry about. He only needed to occasionally check the progress to keep himself informed.

The consumption of over three thousand people was staggering. Based on a minimum requirement of a quarter-kilogram of rice per person per day, they needed at least one ton of grain daily. Furthermore, with the implementation of the labor-point system, the daily requirement spiked to nearly four tons, even though the distribution of this grain was deferred until the moat's completion.

As for the method of transporting the grain, Xie Han had long since devised a solution: the "Absolute Status" and "Absolute Secrecy" systems.

The so-called Absolute Status system involved elevating grain to the highest priority, treating it as the most critical matter. Consequently, the storage location was kept hidden, and ordinary people could neither know about it nor approach it.

The Absolute Secrecy system involved an absolute non-disclosure policy regarding the grain’s intake and expenditure. Anyone working in the grain warehouse was forbidden from discussing the grain with a second party. Furthermore, Xie Han divided the staff into two groups: "Inside" and "Outside." They were not allowed to cross their respective jurisdictions. Those on the outside could never step one foot into the warehouse, and those on the inside could never leave the warehouse during their shifts.

Even this wasn't enough. Xie Han separated the living quarters for both groups, and even their entry and exit paths were independent, ensuring they never lived together or crossed paths. Their freedom was monitored by special guards, and they were restricted to small, designated areas.

In essence, the warehouse operated as two separate systems. Those inside did not know how the grain arrived from the outside, and those outside did not know how much grain entered or remained in the warehouse. Only in this way could the risk of a security breach be minimized.

Using this method, Xie Han usually chose the times when the futures market opened in the morning and afternoon to transport the grain. This allowed him to operate in the futures market while simultaneously transferring the grain from the modern world.

During this period, relying on the futures data compiled by Wu Donglin, Xie Han’s capital grew exponentially. All he had to do was select a highly volatile commodity and operate during the peak periods of the morning or afternoon. For Xie Han, who understood every fluctuation, there was no need for caution. Every move was an "all-in" strategy, so in just five days, his initial capital of 210,000 had ballooned to nearly ten million through compound interest.

Ten million might seem like a large sum, but for Xie Han’s plans, it was a drop in the bucket. Regarding whether to change his data, Xie Han believed that ten million was the limit; any further compounding would surely impact the commodities he was trading in the futures market.

Meng Nan had already applied for international patents for the other components of the rice cooker. With five million yuan provided by Xie Han as initial operating capital, Meng Nan began scouting various metal manufacturing plants to ensure the quality of the final product was impeccable.

With these arrangements in place, the only remaining issue was the core chip. The R&D department of the Post-Apocalyptic Company had handed Xie Han the modified data and blueprints two days prior. The chip production line had already produced 12-inch chips, and the tests were quite promising, with performance only about a minute slower than the original.

In China, capabilities in high-end chip design were still quite weak. Xie Han felt a bit anxious about applying for a patent for his proprietary core chipset. However, in the end, he gritted his teeth and proceeded with the application. He would be filing for many more patents in the future—would he stop applying simply because there was a void in the domestic or global market?